Apple India mobility head quits, forms mobile handset firm

Mehrotra has started a new venture Hyve Mobility which is working aggressively to launch Android-based smartphones by March this year.Muntazir Abbas | ETTelecom | January 12, 2016, 09:23 IST

Sharad Mehrotra, iPhone maker Apple’s enterprise mobility head in India, has quit and set up a handset company to compete in the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market.

Mehrotra, who was with Apple India since October 2007, has cofounded Hyve Mobility, which will launch smartphones using Android, the operating system that rivals Apple’s iOS, by March.

“While consumers today have a lot of options to choose a smartphone, the element of customer delight is seriously missing,” he told ET, adding that it was high time to get into the smartphone market.

Hyve Mobility will be up against Samsung Electronics and Micromax Informatics, which dominate the smartphone segment with a combined 40% market share, apart from companies including Intex, Lenovo and Lava. Shipments of smartphones in India grew 20% in the three months ended September, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

Hyve Mobility is targetting the Rs 15,000-20,000 segment with a flagship model, Mehrotra said. It also plans to introduce models to address the Rs 10,000-30,000 segment. Samsung’s share in the segment between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 was 49% as of September, up from 43% the year before.

Mehrotra cofounded Hyve with Aditya Agarwal, who heads Euphoria and 4 Genius Minds, among the fastest-growing Apple retail partners in the country.

“In the current Android scenario in the country, no brand enjoys customer loyalty and we want to bring the change with our path-breaking products portfolio and service offerings,” said Agarwal, managing director of Hyve Mobility.

Mehrotra, who will also don the hat of chief executive at Hyve, has close to 18 years of experience across the business development, marketing and retail spheres, including stints at the enterprise division of India’s top telco Bharti Airtel and CommScope Solutions.